Mother by Jyoti Lanjewar - Stanza wise summary and analysis

                 About the poet: Jyoti Lanjewar is a Dalit feminist poet from Maharashtra. She was born in a middle-class family in Nagpur. She was a part of several movements in Maharashtra pertaining to Dalit issues. Jyoti Lanjewar is a well-known name in the Dalit literary tradition of Maharashtra, her poetry depicts the struggles of Dalit women and it is filled with a rare self-confidence that does not seek sympathy but rather is a retelling of the resilience of such women. This poem too talks about a brave and resilient woman who is referred to as ‘mother’ throughout the poem. Like most of the Dalit literature, be it poetry or autobiographies, the stories depicted in it are never personal. Instead, they are the experiences of the whole Dalit community. Similarly, although going by the title of the poem it seems like a poem where the speaker is portraying a character sketch of her mother. But when we put a Dalit lens and then try to study this poem this story can be of any mother with the tag of Dalit and not just the mother of the speaker. This poem is, as in most of the Dalit literature, a collective experience.

 

Stanza-wise explanation of the Poem :

                STANZA 1 :

 

               In the first stanza of the poem, the speaker introduces the mother to the reader first by how she has not seen her mother.  The speaker says in the opening lines,

I have never seen you

Wearing one of those gold-bordered saris

With gold necklace

With gold bangles

With fancy sandals

                 With these opening lines of the poem, the speaker tells us how she has never seen her mother. Here the speaker is comparing her mother with the typical image of the mother or  other mothers that she saw in her surroundings and she is pointing out that all things her mother did not have. The things that the speaker is pointing out in the first stanza are usually considered the essential things that every married woman wears. But the situation is so dire in the house of the speaker that they do cannot even have two square meals to fill their stomach. The speaker is addressing her mother that how she never got to see her mother wearing the traditional attire of a typical housewife who has the liberty and resources to decorate herself with valuable ornaments.

 

                     With the lines that follow, the speaker now begins to explain how she has seen her mother all her life. She explains how she has seen the mother burning the soles of her feet in the harsh summer because like other women she does not have expensive footwear to protect her feet from getting burnt. She illustrates the image of the mother putting her little children in a cradle made by saree on a tree so that she can work to earn a livelihood. She is working on a construction site, constructing a road, and carrying barrels of tar. The symbolic images presented in this last line of the first stanza demand special attention. The mother is working in construction to build a ‘road’. A road is generally considered to be the symbol of development, but poor workers like the mother have no signs of development in their lives. The development is being served to the people who already have (compared to the mother for example) better resources and facilities and the people who really need development are the ones who never get it.

 

Stanza 2 :

 

I have seen you

With a basket of earth on your head

Rags bound on your feet

Giving a sweaty kiss to the naked child

Who came tottering over to you

Working for your daily wage, working,

Working…..

 

               In the second stanza, we see an image of the mother who is working under harsh conditions,  carrying a basket full of soil on her head. And her feet are bound by rags probably to cover a wound on her feet. And despite being busy in such demanding work the mother gives a kiss to her naked child who comes tottering towards her. The mother, despite being soaked in sweat, her love for her child is not shaken even a bit. When she sees the child approach her, she leaves all her work to give love to the child. But again, the mother has to go back to work for her daily wage. And she is working… and always working…  because there is no other choice given to her as the livelihood of the whole family is on her shoulder.

 

Stanza 3 :

 

I have seen you

Turning back the tide of tears

 Trying to ignore your stomach’s growl

Suffering parched throat and lips

Building a dam on a lake….

             In the third stanza, the speaker speaks of the resilience and endurance of the mother where the speaker has seen her mother turn back the tide of tears because she cannot be weak at this moment as she has to support her family, as perhaps she is the only bread earner of the family. She further explains how she has seen her mother ignore her stomach’s growl of hunger. And towards the end, another ironical imagery is presented by the speaker where her mother is working to build a dam but her throat and lips are parched by thirst. That perfectly indicates how the so-called development is not equally distributed among the society and often the people who need the facilities the most are the ones who never get it.

 

Stanza 4 :

I have seen you

For a dream of four mud walls

Stepping carefully, pregnant

On the scaffolding of a skyscraper

Carrying a hod of wet cement on your

Head….

                          In the above stanza, the speaker continues to assert the images of her mother who has dreamt of a house made of mud. This is also the only time when the mother is shown to wishing something for herself and to achieve her dream the mother is working tirelessly even when she is pregnant with a child. This explains how taking leave and resting at home when you are pregnant is not even a choice for the people like the speaker’s mother. She is carrying loads of cement on her head for building a skyscraper. The use of irony is quite evident in this stanza. Where we see the mother working under such hard conditions, even when she is pregnant to build a skyscraper but the same woman who is working to build a skyscraper cannot have even a mud house for herself. This perfectly shows the economic disparity in society.

 

Stanza 5 :

I have seen you

In evening, untying the end of your sari

For the coins to buy salt and oil,

Putting a five paise coin

On a little hand

Saying ‘go eat candy’

Taking the little bundle from the cradle to your breast

Saying, “study, become an Ambedkar”

And let the baskets fall from my hands

                          This stanza paints a picture of the affectious bond between the mother and her children when the mother has returned to her home after hard labour and is having a few moments of hope and happiness when she is with her children. The mother is untying a knot from the end of the sari (which is a common way of keeping money for women workers in villages) to buy salt and oil. This line also makes it clear that the mother can buy the things which are out of stock in the house only when she gets the day’s wages. Meaning, their daily survival is dependent on each day’s work and on some days if they do not show up for work they will have no money to buy even these essential items.

              After taking out money to buy the things, the mother gives a five paise coin to her child and says to the child to go eat candy. This shows the amount of love and affection the mother has for the child, that even when she has only limited money that she can spend to buy the necessary things, she takes out five paise coins for the child, giving what she can for her child. And after sending off her older child, the mother takes out her infant baby and embraces it to her breast, and says to the child that the child should study hard and become like Ambedkar and end her sufferings. The mother has hopes in her children that someday her days of struggle would come to an end when her children will become successful.

            And for the first in the poem we observe the overwhelming influence of Dr Ambedkar on the mother. Ambedkar, who is almost looked upon as saviour by the Dalits, and the mother who herself belongs to the lower strata of the caste hierarchy in Indian society, is heavily influenced by Ambedkar.

 

Stanza 6 :

 

I have seen you

Sitting in front of the stove

Burning  your very bones

To make coarse bread and a little something

To feed everybody, but half-fed yourself

So there would be a bit in the morning….

                    This stanza takes the readers to the kitchen of the mother. The speaker says that she has seen her mother sit in front of the stove and burn her bones in the heat of the stove. She would make bread (roti) that was coarse as they never had the luxury to buy high-quality grains as they cost way more. And the mother would make “something” to eat the roti with. She made sure that everybody is fully fed, but for herself, she used to be half-fed as to keep some portion of her meal to eat in the morning as perhaps, she has to go to work early in the morning.

 

Stanza 7 :

 

I have seen you

Washing clothes and cleaning pots

In different households

Rejecting the scraps of food offered to you

With pride

Covering yourself with a sari

That had been mended so many times

Saying “don’t you have a mother or a sister?”

To anyone who looked at you with lust in his eyes…

                        Apart from working as a construction worker, the speaker’s mother has also worked as a maid in different households. But she has kept her self-esteem high and rejected the scraps of food offered to her. This shows that the mother despite being in such poverty, she has kept her integrity intact. The remaining part of the stanza deals with, how the mother deals with people who try to misbehave with her or look at her with lust in their eyes. This also comments on the society’s perception that poor, backward women are available to be exploited but the mother does not allow herself to be a victim of such acts.

 

Stanza 8 :

 

I have seen you      

On a crowded street with a market basket in your head

Trying always to keep your head covered with the end of your sari

Chasing anyone who nudged you deliberately

With your sandal in your hand…

                     This stanza continues the speaker’s explanation about how her mother has not fallen prey to lustful men. How she has always maintained her integrity and has kept her head covered with the end of her sari even when she is in a crowded market. And to those who dared to trouble her, the mother has chased them with a sandal in her hand. This stanza perfectly shows how the mother depicted in the poem is completely self-reliant and can take care of her safety.

 

Stanza 9 :

 

I have seen you

Piercing the darkness to turn towards home,

Then forcing from the door

That man who staggered in from the hooch hut…

                       The above lines describe a situation where the mother is coming home from work at night, it is completely dark, and she is walking through the darkness. The home of the mother is perhaps a hut that does not have a door and lock, and drunkard men go inside any hut that seems vacant to them. So as the mother returns home she forces out the drunkard who was sleeping in her house and goes inside.

 

Stanza 10 :

 

I have seen you

At the front of the long march

The end of your sari tucked tightly at the waist

Shouting “Change the name”

Taking the blow of the police stick on your

Upraised hands

Going to jail with head held high….

                   Here, the mother is shown to be participating in a protest march. Unlike other women, she is leading from the front and shouting slogans of “change the name” (though the nature and objectives of the protest are not specified) it paints a picture that apart from doing odd jobs and working tirelessly for family, the mother is well aware of her social obligation and is ready to do her part and unlike most people, the mother does not choose to sit at home and complain that change is not happening. Here, the mother takes the charge into her own hands and is ready to take the blows of the police. And as the speaker iterates the mother has even gone to jail, holding her head high knowing that she is a part of a greater cause.

 

Stanza 11 :

 

I have seen you

Saying when your only son

Fell martyr to police bullets

“You died for Bhim, your death means something”

Saying boldly to the police,

“If I had two or three sons, I would be fortunate.

They would fight on”

                  The poem continues with the tone of social movement and the mother’s enthusiastic participation in the Dalit movement. Here, the poem intensifies as we see the mother’s only child becoming a martyr by the bullets of the police. But the mother is not disheartened or broken after seeing the death of her only son. Instead, she boldly replies to the police that she wished she had two or three more sons as they would continue the movement. These lines explain the importance of the movement for the people like the mother as they consider the movement more important than the lives of their loved ones. Seeing her son die from the bullets, the mother’s final message for her son is that he (the son) should not be disappointed or sad. Because he had sacrificed his life for a greater cause, for Babasaheb Ambedkar.

 

Stanza 12 :

 

I have seen you on your deathbed

Giving that money you earned

Rag-picking to the diksha bhumi

Saying with your dying breath

“live in unity…. Fight for Baba… don’t forget him”

And with your very last breath

“Jai Bhim”

I have seen you…

                    This part of the poem talks about the final part of the mother’s life. Here, the mother is lying on a deathbed, probably sick with some ailment. Her financial condition seems to be improved but her attitude towards life and her ideology has not changed a bit even in her last stage of life. Whatever amount of money the mother has saved from working all her life, she wants to donate it to Diksha Bhumi. The influence of Ambedkar is evident throughout the poem, and even when the mother’s life is on the verge of ending she is remembering Ambedkar, she says that people should have unity among themselves and fight under his guidance and the people should not forget him, what he has done for the community. The amount of dedication and a sense of surrender the mother has for the movement and Ambedkar is quite commendable. All her life the mother followed the path of Babasaheb, through all the hardships she managed to devote herself to the cause, and when she is dying her last words are “Jai Bhim” which mark her as a true warrior of the movement.

 

                       And as the poem ends, the speaker comes back to her opening statement of how she (the speaker) has ‘not’ seen her mother. After telling the readers about her struggles with poverty and societal restrictions and the enumerable sacrifices that she made for the family and for the movement. In between all this the mother never even wished for a  “New broad-bordered sari”. The speaker portrays the spirit of resilience and self-lessness of the mother and ends the poem by saying,

I have seen you